The American military's support mission along the US-Mexico border has sparked a lot of debate, with critics questioning aspects of the mission's legality, necessity, and short- and long-term implications.

The Department of Defense has yet to disclose an overall cost estimate of the deployment, which is expected to involve over 7,000 active-duty troops from across the US.

With the main migrant caravan still hundreds of miles from the closest point on the border, it remains unclear just how long troops will be deployed there.

The New York Times reported they may have to wait until at least Thanksgiving to return home, and while the deployed troops were careful not to discuss politics with reporters, the prospect of spending another holiday away from home for the mundane missions along the border could dampen spirits.

According to The Times, that is not the only issue with troop morale.

Photos taken at Base Camp Donna, in Texas, showed soldiers playing cards and football, resting on cots, and eating ready-to-eat meals, or MREs. The camp appeared almost desolate.

There is no dining facility on base, and showers were installed shortly before the report's publication on Saturday. Electricity is scarce, according to The Times, and is used only to power "lights and communication gear" — making it harder for soldiers to charge their cellphones and personal electronics.

Soldiers' tents are not fitted with electricity or air-conditioning, despite reports of heat exhaustion.

The Times likened the atmosphere to the early years in Afghanistan. Rep. Anthony G. Brown, a Maryland Democrat and Iraq War veteran, said a key difference is that in Afghanistan the soldiers have a mission.

Brown said that even on holidays, that mission, a sense of purpose, helped troops maintain morale. Along the border, it seems, that purpose is missing.

While some of the troops spend their days constructing barbed-wire fences, others are just trying to make their bases livable, according to The Times. Many are performing the same tasks as previously deployed National Guard units.

"When you send a soldier on a dubious mission, with no military value, over Thanksgiving, it doesn't help morale at all," Brown told The Times.

Mark T. Esper, the US Secretary of the Army, has defended the deployments, saying that border support is not a waste of time or military resources.

"We all recognize that one of the many missions of the military is defense of the homeland and security of our borders," he told The Times.

Outside the fences, the "invasion" President Donald Trump sent them to defend against — the caravan of migrant families fleeing from violence — inches forward, still some hundreds of miles in the distance.

In this May 28, 2019 file photo, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban group's top political leader, second left, arrives with other members of the Taliban delegation for talks in Moscow, Russia. (Associated Press/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - The Taliban have sent a delegation to Russia to discuss prospects for a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan following the collapse of talks with the United States this month, officials from the insurgent group said.

The move, days after President Donald Trump canceled a planned meeting with Taliban leaders at his Camp David retreat, came as the movement looks to bolster regional support, with visits also planned for China, Iran and Central Asian states.

Per his final demands, Joe Heller was laid in his casket Thursday in a T-shirt featuring the Disney dwarf Grumpy and the middle finger of his right hand extended. He also told his daughters to make sure and place a remote control fart machine in the coffin with him.

Laced with bawdy humor, the irreverent but loving obit captured Heller's highly inappropriate nature and his golden heart, friends who filled the fire station for a celebration of his life on Thursday evening said.

A 19-year-old man who planned a July mass shooting at a West Lubbock hotel that was thwarted by his grandmother was upset that he was considered "defective" by the military when he was discharged for his mental illness, according to court records.

William Patrick Williams faces federal charges for reportedly lying on an application to buy the semiautomatic rifle he planned to use in a shooting, according to a federal indictment filed Aug. 14.

He is charged with a federal felony count of making a false material statement during the purchase of a firearm on July 11, a day before he planned to lure people out of a hotel and shoot them. The charge carries a punishment of up to five years in prison.

A photograph circulated by the U.S. State Department's Twitter account to announce a $1 million USD reward for al Qaeda key leader Hamza bin Laden, son of Osama bin Laden, is seen March 1, 2019. (State Department via Reuters)

Reuters) - Hamza bin Laden, a son of slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and himself a notable figure in the militant group, was killed in a U.S. counter-terrorism operation, the White House said on Saturday.